is karachi in pakistan. perhaps that's not the best place to move at this point. for more on the study go to cnn.com/gps. the correct answer to our

international issues of the day such as our topic for tonight, u.s./pakistan relations. on behalf of the wefpg and our board members who are present tonight, dawn, gayle, donna and teresa, i want to welcome everybody here. we're so glad that you could join us for this behind-the-headlines event. these are events on hot issues in the news, and recently we've done events on egypt, libya, women in the middle east, um, and our event tonight is with ambassador husain haqqani, the pakistani ambassador to the who will be joined by our friend and frequent speaker and moderator, washington post's senior national security correspondent karen deyoung. for a conversation on u.s./pakistan relations. the event could not be more timely, as we all know, given the increased tensions in the relationship between the two countries following the killing of osama bin laden. we're so pleased to have the ambassador with us tonight to explore the complexities and the importance of this relationship and extremely lucky to have karen back. i want to recognize a few guests who are here with us tonight, under

pakistan. perhaps that's not the best place to move at this point. for more on the study, go to our website,

afghanistan and pakistan. we must always be on guard. i am advised this figure is significantly reduced. international forces have been bearing down on al qaeda and the taliban in pakistan and afghanistan. osama bin laden has been killed and al qaeda is significantly weakened. in afghanistan british and international forces have driven al qaeda from its bases and while it is too early to tell for certain initial evidence suggests we halted the momentum of the taliban insurgency in its heartland. mr. speaker, we are entering a new phase in which the afghan forces will do more of the fighting and patrolling and our forces training and mentoring. as president obama said last month the mission is changing from, that to support. when we arrived there was no one to hand over to. no proper army or police. in many places across the country the afghan security forces now stand ready to begin the process of taking over security responsibility. success in afghanistan requires a number of critical steps. the first is making sure the afghan security forces are able to secure their own territory. the

militants based in pakistan. these latest bombs have been described as relatively crude and possibly the work of local militants. whoever is behind them makes sure that india's city is still vulnerable. >> for more on today's violence, i spoke with the ambassador who formerly served as u.s. assistant secretary of state for south asian affairs. he is currently at the center for strategic and international studies. i started by asking who he thought could be behind the attacks. >> well, i know one thing, that mumbai, it is a very sad day for mumbai, the fourth attack in the last 10 years. this city has been attacked by terrorists on many occasions, and this is the latest episode. it does not appear to be the same nature of attack that occurred in november of 2008, the suicide bombers that attacked in mumbai, killing 166 people that were tied to the l.e.t., a pakistani-based militant group. this appears to be more sporadic. it does not appear to be the same kind of attack. india has seen these before by a group called north dakota and mehanna hedin. it is an indigenous group. t

from afghanistan but it's not going far it's next focus is neighboring pakistan which has long been a sore an aside in the war on terror with insurgents they are often sabotaging nato supply lines are his military contributor thinks the only way america can save face and gather stannis to rekindle islamabad ties. they u.s. congressman hunter warns that united states is seriously considering several options including bad direct and kinetic intervention of the u.s. forces into pakistan to do decisively the taliban and how we're going to network training camps which were the same they had the united states or so actively helping and assisting pakistan to wage day anti-submarine jihad in afghanistan using the same heading proxy force led trained by pakistani intelligence which was actively supported by their american partners what happens right now in afghanistan is night of the war no peace in reality the american occupation is completely bombed down and these paralyzed sound where in the twilight zone between war and peace now the u.s. lawmakers are facing a very serious dilemma and o

pakistan which has long been a thorn in the side of the war on terror with insurgents they are often sabotaging nato supply lines r.t.s. military contributor thinks the only way america can save face in afghanistan is to rid hill with its ties. they u.s. congressman hunter warns and the united states is seriously considering several options including the direct and kinetic intervention of the u.s. forces into pakistan to do decisively we've had a taliban and high ground in network training camps which were the same that the united states were so actively helping and assisting they could stand to waged a anti-suffrage jihad in afghanistan using the same heading proxy force led to me trained by pakistani intelligence which was actively supported by their american partners what happens right now in afghanistan is neither war no peace in reality the american occupation he's completely bogged down and they spare allies sound where in the trial i desire on b. to be in war and peace and now the u.s. lawmakers facing a very serious dilemma on the one side they're eager to blackmail pakistan

libya pakistan yemen and now we have somalia that's right it's being reported the u.s. has already launched drone strikes in somalia is another sign of this creeping shadow wars not that means sorry to break if you go war ultimately leads to destruction and death so instead of incessantly covering a case where one little girl died as her will is that is maybe you can find it in you to just think of all the soldiers that have died or gotten wounded in our wars already how about the civilians maybe you could think of why increasing shadow wars even if the teams are smaller the supposed risk to soldiers is much smaller pop at me maybe you could ask why the hell are we still have so many troops in iraq and afghanistan if your own warfare is because the pentagon's go to hell today three u.s. service members were killed in iraq that means fourteen troops have now died this month in out war bars that supposedly over and that makes this month the deadliest for troops in iraq since two thousand and eight and you want to know some totals of the lives lost at this point or report yesterday br

focus seems to shift to neighbors should be refocusing resources on pakistan yemen somalia parts of north africa and other locations i've always believed pakistan is more central to what happens in afghanistan a change in the guard at the department of defense with robert gates retiring and former cia chief leon panetta getting sworn in signals of this change of course to critics i see no difference between and between him and robert gates and for afghanistan we now hear a presidential pledge to pull thirty three thousand troops out by september two thousand and twelve fully we're covering the surge i announced at west point well it certainly sounds like what the american people would like to hear for the first time ever a majority want u.s. troops out of afghanistan as soon as possible fifty six percent well thirty nine percent want troops there until the situation is stable. as you can see the trend is really flip flopped but what is the reality of obama's plans for troop withdrawal all that thirty three thousand he's calling for is a minority of the one hundred thousand american

. drone attacks in pakistan they want to fire a lawsuit a former cia legal chief for approving attacks that killed hundreds of innocent. this week the phone hacking and police bribery scandal was taken to the british parliament rupert murdoch his son james and former c.e.o. rebecca brooks were all grilled by british lawmakers for several hours at least the trio said they were deeply sorry for what happened however new allegations have emerged that the news international chairman james murdoch led. by saying he was unaware of the true extent and he said phone tapping by the company's reporters meanwhile questions are being asked over the death of journalist sean hoare the man credited with revealing the phone hacking scandal and it's also reports it's drawing striking parallels with another case. another political scandal erupts another whistleblower diaries sean hoare was the first former news of the world journalists to go on the record to allege that phone hacking was endemic at the paper and that its editor andy colson actively encouraged it who was found dead in his house o

. >> reporter: so far, no one has claimed responsibility, but suspicion falls on the same pakistan-based group that attacked mumbai in 2008. this time, mumbai was better prepared, but the violence would inflame tension between two old enemies, india and pakistan, both nuclear powers. richard engel, nbc news, cairo. >>> and here in our new york studios our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. andr andrea, i don't need to tell you, this is your line of work. you ask any u.s. official what keeps you up at night, and they answer, these two countries, nuclear nations, and especially pakistan. >> pakistan is about to pass france as the fifth greatest nuclear power in the world and they're on a hair trigger. there's no hot line between india and pakistan, only last week, diplomats from both countries meeting out at stanford university trying to talk about establishing a hotline. so unlike the cold war, there is no communication, they could have an accident. this time india has said in the past that they were restrained three years ago when it was proved that pakistan was b

pakistan leads our overall policy efforts ande are supporting his efforts, ambassador grossman's efforts, to develop all of the different elements of our policies. >> tried to get him here but couldn't. >> okay. so, in other words, you aren't in a position really to answer my question? is that what you're saying? >> yes, senator. i would defer to the special representatives office. >> then would you since the question is to you would you get me a written answer to the question? >> i will, sir. >> thank you. mr. harrigan, what are dea's plans for continued operations should military forces draw down to levels that would not allow adequate support for your operations? >> well, again, co-chairman grassley, i have been in discussions really for the last 18 months with my counter part at the podium here, mr. wechsler, as well as our regional director in afghanistan with the u.s. military and si isaf forces. dea has no intention of drawing down any of our 81 personnel. it would be a bit premature to see right now how the drawdown will impact dea but let me assure you we continue to wor

special operations to devotee against al qaeda and associated groups outside of afghanistan, pakistan and iraq. director leon panetta expressed concerns on the shifting to other places most notably in yemen, somalia, north africa, and i hope he will address what you see as the appropriate role for the special operation forces in those areas. in announcing lieutenant general allan's nomination, president obama called him, quote, the flight commander to take over the vital mission in afghanistan. if confirmed, the general will have big boots to fill and succeeding general petraeus commander of the 49 member international security assistance force coalition and u.s. forces afghanistan. like general petraeus, general allen brings an in-depth understanding of the complexities of the counterinsurgency effort based on his own experience as the commander in anbar province in iraq. working with the sunni awakening the marines and anbar succeeded in getting local sunni tribal leaders to reject the insurgency and instead support the iraqi government and its the deputy commander at u.s. central c

opposition leader and members of the house of commons on counterterrorism efforts with pakistan, setting up officer training academies for afghan police and security operations in the region. this is an hour. >> prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. with the mission i'd like to make a statement on afghanistan. from the outset this government has sought to take a more hard-headed, more security-based approach to our mission. as i said, we're not there to build a perfect democracy. still less a model society. yes, we will help with the establishment of democratic institutions. yes, we can improve infrastructure, develop education, encourage development. but we are in afghanistan for one overriding reason, to ensure our own national security by helping the afghans to take control of theirs. this means building up the afghan security forces so we can drawdown british combat forces with the afghans themselves able to prevent al qaeda from returning and posing a threat to us and our allies around the world. this is particularly poignant today, i believe, mr. speaker, on the eve o

, pakistan, and the rest of the region. >> i think a formal accord would be desirable, i agree entirely. even so, it would probably be a fig leaf rather than an actual settlement to the problem there. if we don't get it or can't get it, that shouldn't stop us from going away. >> one of the things you point out in the piece which i thought was very striking was that there was all this opposition and huge intense opposition in this country to the bombing of cambodia because that was seen as crossing an international border. of course, we do that every week now in our drone attacks in pakistan which is it functionally exactly the same thing? pakistan has become a safe haven just as cambodia was and we follow in hot pursuit as it were. >> anyone who's watched a war movie, when you have a tactical retreat, you leave one guy behind to cover and shoot. the other people go away. that's what you have to do militarily on the ground even as we're pulling out our forces, we should be striking hard and aggressively so the enemy can't follow our tracks and come right in. you're absolutely right, than

pakistan leads our overall policy efforts and we are supporting his efforts, ambassador grossman's efforts, to develop all of the different elements of our policies. >> tried to get him here but couldn't. >> okay. so, in other words, you aren't in a position really to answer my question? is that what you're saying? >> yes, senator. i would defer to the special representatives office. >> then would you since the question is to you would you get me a written answer to the question? >> i will, sir. >> thank you. mr. harrigan, what are dea's plans for continued operations should military forces draw down to levels that would not allow adequate support for your operations? >> well, again, co-chairman grassley, i have been in discussions really for the last 18 months with my counter part at the podium here, mr. wechsler, as well as our regional director in afghanistan with the u.s. military and si isaf forces. dea has no intention of drawing down any of our 81 personnel. it would be a bit premature to see right now how the drawdown will impact dea but let me assure you we continue to work with t

counterterrorism efforts with pakistan. currently the u.k. is the second-largest of the foreign military force in afghanistan. from london, this is just under an hour. >> thank you, mr. speaker. with permission i would like to make a statement on afghanistan. formerly i said this government has sought to take a more hard hit security based approach to the mission.vernment as i've said, we are not there to build a perfect democracy, still a model society.re yes, we will help with the detablishment of demographicild institutions and yes, we can improve infrastructure, develop education, encourage democrac development, but we are in afghanistan. we can improve infrastructure, develop education and encourage development the we are in afghanistan for one overriding reason, to shore our own national security by helping the afghans take control of theirs. that means building up security forces to drive down british combat forces where the afghans themselves able to prevent al qaeda from returning and posing a threat to us and our allies around the world. this is poignant today on a plot executed by a

plots against britain had linked to afghanistan and pakistan. we must always be on our guard, but now, i am informed that this figure has been significantly reduced. in pakistan, osama bin laden has been killed and al qaeda is significantly weakens. in afghanistan, british and other forces have driven al qaeda from their bases, and while it is too early to tell for certain, initial evidence shows we have halted the certai suggests we halted the momentum of the talibannsurgency in its heartland. mr. speaker, we are entering a new phase in which the afghan forces will do more of the fighti and patrolling and our forces training and mentoring. as president obama said last month the mission is changing from, that to support. when we arrived there was no one to hand over to. no pper army or police. in many places across the country the afghan security forces now stand ready to begin the process of taking over security responsibility. success in afghanistan requires a number of critical steps. the first is making sure the afghan security forces are able to secure their own territory. th

regions of pakistan. he also revealed that up to 20 top al qaeda leaders from pakistan, yemen, and somalia were identified from laden's compound and are now on america's target list. topping that list, american-born clericÑi anwar al awlaki, leade of al qaeda in yemen, considered the greatest terrorist threat to the united states, the so-called christmas day bomber, was trained and equipped by al qaeda in yemen. panetta confirmed today that the cia has joined the u.s. military in launching air strikes aimed at taking out the leadership of al qaeda in yemen and warned the u.s. must remain relentless in pursuit of al qaeda. >> i think now is the moment, now is the moment, following what happened with bin laden to put maximum pressure on them because i do believe that if we continue this effort that we can really cripple al qaeda. >> reporter: despite the progress, panetta warns that al qaeda still remains a serious threat, and even after his success at the cia in bringing down bin laden, panetta says that al qaeda itself will still be a top priority of his in his new job at the pent

united states is with holding aid to pakistan. they are with holding back about $850 million in aid and equipment for the army of pakistan. tensions have been on the rise since the raid and killing of bin laden in may. officials have been angry over the incursion into their territory without permission while the white house has been worried about pakistan's ineffectiveness in fighting the taliban and al-qaeda. >> the truth is our relationship with them is complicated. they have been victim of huge amounts of terrorism, but right now they have take especially steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid we were giving and we are trying to work through that. >> also is pakistan expelling pakistan military trainers. >> about a hundred people are missing tonight after a deadly boat accident in russia. nearly two hundred people were on board the double decker tourist boat when it sank in. two bodies have been recovered. survivors say it sank so fast they could only release one life boat and some ships wouldn't come help. >>> in north india a packed train derailed. are you look

associated groups outside of afghanistan, pakistan and iraq. director leon panetta expressed concerns on the shifting to other places most notably in yemen, somalia, north africa, and i hope he will address what you see as the appropriate role for the special operation forces in those aeas. in announcing lieutenant general allan's nomination, president obama called him, quote, the flight commander to take over the vital mission in afghanistan. if confirmed, the general will have big boots to fill and succeeding general petraeus commander of the 49 member international security assistance force coalition and u.s. forces aghanistan. like general petraeus, general allen brings an in-depth understanding of the complexities of the counterinsurgency effort based on his own experience as the coander in anbar province in iraq. working with the sunni awakening the marines andanbar succeeded in getting local sunni tribal leaders to reject the insurgency and instead support the iraqi government and its the deputy commander at u.s. central command general ellen has developed a regional perspective on is

fact is we went into a country to fight al qaeda who was all in the mountains in pakistan and even in the cities in pakistan, probably with the knowledge of the pakistani government. and we've wasted a lot of money and lives in an area where we didn't need to be, because that war will continue. there are only 100 al qaeda give or take left in afghanistan. but there are al qaeda in other spots in the middle east. and al qaeda's people have plotted terrorist activities from germany and from other places in europe. they don't need osama bin laden's base to have activity. there's nothing you need -- as far as the soviet union, the soviet union went down for goodly reasons, because of all the money they spent in afghanistan. true, we were there fighting them, but their attempt at gaining empire, which has been the loss of many empires, stretching too far and going beyond their supply lines, killed them. they spent money there and they'd like us to stay there. they're being real nice to us. they're helping us with bases, to bring in armaments and troops and supplies. come on, america. spend

pakistan he was often accused in media reports of having links to afghanistan's massive illegal drugs trade more and what his assassination might mean for the country we are joined live by dr be a political analyst from kabul good to see you thank you for joining us dr keamy there was a popular perception of. a major drugs kingpin how will the illegal but hugely lucrative business in the country be affected by his death do you think . of course he was blamed. for having a big role in. afghanistan and he was believed to be a corrupt personality. inside the government as well and he was blamed all soon to be on. the sea and. he had that close relationship with the american forces in the middle. of afghanistan particularly in that kandahar province now i think. there is a drug smugglers into some to afghanistan. last one all for the. key man in one. important. afghanistan but i think. it's a situation where not a huge negative effect on draco control particularly among those people who are linked with her but this guy in kandahar a moment ago. was a link to the cia it's often been said t